Daily Topic for February 25, 2007
Returning to Jerusalem and entering the temple, Jesus began driving out those who were buying and selling there. In an act of righteous judgment, Jesus upset tables and benches and prevented anyone from carrying merchandise through the temple courts. Merchants had been using the fore court (a place set aside as a court of prayer for the Gentiles) for fraudulent activities. Jesus’ action restored this court as a place where the Gentiles could worship according to God’s original intention (1 Kings 8:43).
Lord, open our eyes so that we may see how our ignorance and selfishness might keep other peoples from coming to You.
In the 8th century, a small group of Jewish people in Mesopotamia split off from the main body of rabbinical Jews. They believed that the Scriptures should be the only source of authority, not the teachings and traditions of the rabbis. They called their belief system a Mosiac (i.e., a Moses-based) religion, and explained that their beliefs grew out of Judaism in the same way as Christianity.
Centuries later, this group had migrated to Eastern Europe and become known as the Karaim people. In the 1930s, they successfully petitioned the German government to declare them non-Jews so they wouldn’t face Nazi persecution. Some were murdered anyway, before knowledge of the new law reached all Nazis.
A small group to begin with, in 1991 there were only about 150 Karaim people in Poland (50 each in Warsaw, Gdansk and Varcelova). Most were over the age of 50. The Karaite language faces extinction, partly because it was not taught during the communist years. Today it is used only by a few older people in two communities.Learn more at joshuaproject.net
Pray that the New Testament would be translated into the Karaite language. Pray they would seize the opportunity to read the New Testament, and to grasp its significance. Pray they will soon turn to Jesus to give them everlasting life.-JWS